Another very successful rallycross weekend, running three sessions over two days. Things ran like clockwork all weekend thanks to the dedicated volunteers that work so hard in challenging conditions.
It was hot on the weekend with temperatures climbing to 34C, sunny and some humidity. As hard as that might have been on the workers at least they had some breeze most of the time, but for the few minutes the drivers had in the car each run they were really sweating.

The competition was tight but tidy driving was rewarded. Jeff’s course was technical with both fast and slow sections. Of course, each session started out in the wet mud from generous course watering to reduce the dust but as the track dried out you could hear tyres squealing on the corners, especially on the big oval.

Needless to say, some runs ended early with car problems. The Sentra had the header fall off the block, which melted the fan wiring and the hot exhaust gasses split the rad open. The Coutures in the Focus have had some bad luck with the car lately and this time it was worn out transmission linkages. A pair of vice grips came to the rescue and they started setting some decent times. Mark, with the normally dependable supercharged Jag, had alternator problems and a couple of cars had issues with battery connections. As far as I know there were no flat tyres or loose wheels.

In the Saturday morning session at first people thought the course was a bit technical but soon got it figured out. Damian had the fastest time in five of the seven runs, a great drive but a couple of off course excursions dropped him down the order. Ivan should have had first 4wdN and second overall but one little cone on his second run dropped him down a spot, and Andrew took first in 4wdN by just 1.8 seconds. Gavin Caissie in his first event took 1st 4wdF ( truth in advertising, it was a very small class). The bigger news is Ian Wright who ran clean and consistent all morning and not only won 2wd but also overall, beating Andrew by 2.0 seconds. Not bad in about fifteen and a half minutes of running. A great drive from Ian, who also got the Group D award. Brandon said he would have won if the car hadn’t failed him, but to quote the masters, ” to finish first, first you must finish”.

Saturday afternoon followed a similar pattern. Jordan peddled the 2wd Civic to a class win and second overall, just beating Jim Morton by six seconds. Damian had another good drive, just one pesky cone keeping him out of second overall. Rajan Brar won in 4wdF setting two fastest runs. However, It was Darin in 4wdN that set the other five fastest times and won overall. Paul Carry was 3rd 2wd and won group D.

Sunday morning was 26C and humid even when I arrived at the track at 6:30AM. Rain wasn’t in the forecast. 2wd was once again an interesting class with Yoshio setting some impressive times in his MR2 and taking second in class and first group D, but John Gerryts upped his game and took first 2wd and fourth overall. Hiroki and Masami Kinoshita came third and second overall respectively but in another storming drive Darin once again took first overall beating the field by almost a minute with all seven fastest runs. It pays to also write the fantastic scoring program we use. ? Neil Mentuch won 4wdF despite some battery issues.

I need to thank all the workers who made the weekend successful. Jeff was the course designer and did most of the setup along with Gary and Christina. Of course Gary doubles as worker chief and Christina also does registration and scoring.

Our three clerks for the weekend were Greg, Vasu and Eric.There is more stress in doing the clerks job than you might think, but these guys handle it well. When Eric was clerking on Sunday, he also kept an eye on the workers, chastising them when he didn’t think they were drinking enough water in the hot conditions. Great work all three of you

Of course, the clerk’s depend on the field workers, especially the person running the start. After the first couple of cars get done the clerk lets the starter determine the spacing and it’s the starter who really sets the pace for the day. Our starters were Matt, Eric & Damian and since Damian was also competing on Saturday it was great he could help out on Sunday.

Chris and Cole Matthews were working their second rallycross and worked flagging on Saturday and recovery on Sunday. Mark and Alton Gonsalves competed on Saturday and worked on Sunday, as did Gord and Phil. John Gerryts worked Saturday morning, then ran in the afternoon and Sunday morning, plus helped with cleanup. Darin helped with scoring when he wasn’t beating the rest of the field competing. I’m sure I missed some people but it’s just amazing what a great team we have, thank you all.

Thanks also goes to Dave Bitner, the track owner, for letting us have our fun.

One last thing, Jeff and I were just pulling out of the parking lot on Sunday about 1:45PM when the storm hit, talk about perfect timing.